Orange Glou, the Wine Club for the Explorers at Heart

Orange wine is hot right now—here's all you need to know to fall in love with it. Cin cin!

Orange wine really can have a splendid color. In all its varieties, it fades from bright coral to soft pink, and in the warmth of a dimmed lit restaurant, it glimmers deliciously, begging for one more sip, and then another.

Orange wine, a skin contact white wine made like red wine, is hot right now. It’s edgy, it has an interesting color, the right taste, and, as natural wine, it is way less hangover inducing than all the other wines. I’ve been told of at least one drinker so seduced by it, he drank a whole bottle by himself before walking out of the restaurant happily drunk, but miraculously headache free. I do not know the name of the drinker, but the restaurant was Lower East Side’s Trapizzino, a cozy spot with a traditionally Roman menu and a refined wine list that can satisfy experts and amateurs alike.

So, if you’re in the mood for orange wine, but you’re not sure where to try it, and you’d maybe like to nibble some delectable Italian food while you’re at it, trust La Cucina Italiana: Trapizzino is the place, and Doreen Winkler, its leading natural wines sommelier, is your woman.

I met her and Trapizzino’s co-owner Nick Hatsatouris to chat over one of the restaurant’s candle-lit wooden tables. The table was sprawled with bottles of carefully selected orange wines, thick slices of fennel salami, bites of spicy pecorino, and mouth-watering fried artichokes that flake softly between fingers and melt in the mouth (a must of Trapizzino’s menu, with the trapizzini itself, a Roman and more interesting take on a slice of pizza).

Doreen has been the renowned sommelier for years – Forbes named her one of “America's Top Sommeliers” in 2016 – and ever since tasting skin-contact wines, or orange wines in 2013, she has never looked back. In November, she founded Orange Glou, an orange wine subscription service with monthly wine pop up bars, devoted to educating people about orange wine, and seducing them with the taste, colors, and flavors of it.

Next January 22, Doreen will host one of these wine pop up bars at Trapizzino, dedicated solely to Italian natural wines, which, she guarantees, are the most exciting on the market (“And I’m not just saying this because I’m talking with La Cucina Italiana.”) The lucky few who’ll manage to snatch a ticket will be treated with a selection of 10 orange wines from all over Italy, and surprise snacks from the restaurant’s kitchen.

“Natural wine drinkers know that there’s a certain wildness that comes when you let the grapes do the work on their own rather than flooding the juice with chemicals, and orange wine takes this a step further,” Doreen says, explaining why orange wine is so special and loved by those who know what they’re talking about. “Depending on the type of grape, how long the skin and seeds are left on, if it’s developed into a pet nat or left still, the growing season and the whims of the winemaker—all of these factors can lead to drastically different wines, meaning orange wines are for explorers at heart.”

The unpredictability of natural wines, orange wine included, is part of their beauty. But it also means you need a good palate to guide you through the proliferation of exciting natural wine producers. Having tasted over 1000 bottles, Doreen, with her fast-growing wine subscription is probably the best person to have as a chaperone.

Here are three wines from the selection for the upcoming pop-up bar she absolutely recommends:

Furlani, Sur Lie Alpino Macerato, Trento, Italy 2018 (Pinot Grigio)

Like tart raspberry. A bubbly wine that makes aperitivo fun. Imagine coming home from a long day of work. A normal, heavy glass of wine will put you to sleep, but “the best thing about this wine is that it will wake you back up. It’s beautiful.”

Longarico Catartico, Sicily, Italy 2018 (Catarratto)

A flavourful still orange wine, with a scent of minerals, citrus, some spices, and a fresh sapid taste.